


Late to the Party

by ThatRavenclawBitch



Category: Once Upon a Time (TV)
Genre: Canon Compliant, F/M, Fluff, Fluffapalooza
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-12
Updated: 2021-02-12
Packaged: 2021-03-12 05:46:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,468
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29380146
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ThatRavenclawBitch/pseuds/ThatRavenclawBitch
Summary: An explanation for why the Gold family was the last to arrive to dinner in the season 6 finale.
Relationships: Belle/Rumplestiltskin | Mr. Gold
Comments: 7
Kudos: 50





	Late to the Party

There is a certain place on Rumplestiltskin’s neck, just behind his left ear, that smells like the very essence of him. It’s hard to describe, both clean and earthy, fresh but grounded. It is rain on a summer evening and clove mixed with thyme. It is leather and magic and a dash of expensive cologne. No matter what world or what face he wore, no matter if she lost her sight, Belle would always know her Rumple by that scent.

And she’s been without it for so very long.

She buries her face there now, breathing him in as they sway together to the music in the shop, her fingers carding through hair much too short for her liking. She has missed him, even spending as much time together as they have over the past few weeks, she has still missed this. Having him beside her, working together to try to save their son, but not being able to reach out to him, has been one more pain in a month of hardships. She has no such compunction now.

His hand tightens around hers, his thumb stroking across the skin of her palm and she lets out a contented sigh.

She’s relished the quiet intimacies that have grown between them in the past few weeks, the gentle reestablishment of trust. Being with Rumple is as natural as breathing, being without him is what’s difficult. Even though they haven’t been together in terms of their relationship, the easy closeness they’ve always had still surfaced at unlikely moments. Rumple’s hand against her back, a squeeze of her hand when overwhelmed late into the evening, a hug because they both needed one so very badly, each moment leading to this.

And now here they are again, holding each other as they dance together, just as they once did on their honeymoon, over a year ago now.

They’ve spent so little of their married life together, torn apart by curses and villains and their own stupidity. It’s about time for another honeymoon, Belle thinks, some time alone together.

But they are not alone now, as they move across the polished floorboards of the shop. They have a child, a sweet and innocent little babe barely two weeks old.

The baby is asleep for the moment, lulled by Rumple’s magic rocking the bassinet in time to the soft crackle of music on the phonograph. Gideon is a perfect baby, made more so by the fact that she came so close to losing him. But nothing had prepared Belle for just how hard being a mother is. Luckily Rumple is an equal partner in parenting, perhaps even more so since he needs less sleep. She’s so very glad not to be doing this alone after all.

Rumple’s hand is moving, smoothing down her back, to her waist and finally slipping to the curve of her backside.

“Rumple,” she admonishes softly, pulling back to give him a choice eyebrow. “What are you doing?”

“The baby is asleep,” he whispers against her ear.

It’s a rare enough occurrence these days. In the two weeks since Gideon's return to infancy, he’s rarely slept three hours together. That’s part of the reason they’re here in the shop after hours instead of heading home. They have somewhere to go tonight and Belle knows if they made it home, she’d probably fall into bed and not get out until morning.

But their plans mean there’s no time for _other_ things as well.

“I could have us all home in a split second,” he continues against her ear, his low voice sending a shiver down her spine. Two weeks since they decided to give their marriage another shot and yet they haven’t had much time for that, not with Gideon needing so much attention.

Despite her exhaustion, Belle feels that familiar tingle radiating from her most secret places, places only Rumple knows.

She is not averse to her husband’s attentions. But they have somewhere to be.

“Rumple, we’ll miss dinner.”

He frowns.

“So?”

“So, they’re our family.”

Rumple scoffs, his hand settling more firmly on her backside.

“The only person at that dinner who is family is Henry.”

“Yes,” Belle agrees. “And the rest of them are Henry’s family. We’re all connected now.”

Rumple lets out a groan, dropping his head against her shoulder.

“Belle, darling,” he begins. “Don’t you think family begins with the three of us? How are we supposed to welcome half the town into our lives if we don’t work on ourselves first?”

“And by ‘working on ourselves’ you mean going home and making love until the baby wakes up?”

He shrugs, a sly little look crossing his face as he lifts his head to look at her.

“We could talk during.”

Belle bites her lip, looking up at him coyly.

“If I could form coherent sentences you wouldn’t be doing your job very well would you?”

Rumple’s mouth falls open, a huff of laughter surprised from him.

“I suppose not.”

“Anyway, Henry invited you specifically. You’re his grandfather and he loves you.”

“One big happy family,” Rumple says with a sardonic twist to his mouth. “Pirates and all.”

Belle suppresses rolling her eyes.

“You don’t ever have to like Hook but can you, for the sake of our evening, try to tolerate him?”

“He shot you,” he says by way of answer.

“Yes, and he made up for it by saving me from Dr. Jekyll.”

Rumple’s face turns sour at that, a reminder of that horrible day, the fight they’d had on the docks after he’d locked her aboard the Jolly Roger.

“Hey,” she says, stroking his cheek as he looks back down at her. “We didn’t mean the things we said that day. I didn’t need to love you again, I never stopped.”

His eyes soften as he pulls her closer, Belle’s head leaning against his chest, hearing the steady thrum of his heartbeat. A good heart, a pure heart, no matter the darkness he’s spent centuries contending with. Somehow she’d lost sight of that with all the troubles in their relationship.

“I’ve been a truly terrible husband this first year of marriage,” he says against her hair. “I can never apologize enough.”

“Well,” she says, glancing up at him. “They say the first year of marriage is the hardest, right? If we survived this, I think the next fifty years should be a breeze.”

“Only fifty years?” he says with mock affront. "You'll give up on me so soon?" 

“If I substitute the occasional salad for all the Granny’s burgers I could maybe stretch it to sixty,” she quips.

“I could make it forever,” he says, his voice suddenly solemn. “I could keep us all young and healthy forever. No sickness, no fear, just happiness.”

There is a gleam in Rumple's eye, a desire to do just what he says and use magic to keep them safe and happy forever. But magic has a price, a fact they both well know, a price Belle is tired of paying. 

“And you know I would never ask you to do that,” she says. “And that’s why you love me.”

“One of many reasons.”

“Magical shortcuts never made anyone in this room very happy, Rumple.”

“I know,” he says, and she believes him. He does know that now despite it always being a temptation. Magic is a tool, not a way of life. “A lifetime with you will never be enough, but it’s a good place to start.”

She finds that spot behind his ear again, the one that smells so damn good, and places a kiss there, trailing her lips down to the collar of his shirt. It’s in the way and Belle steps back, her hands going to undo his tie.

“Sweetheart,” Rumple says, his voice playful. “What are you doing?”

“Taking off your tie,” she says. “Isn’t that obvious?”

“But darling, we’ll be late to the party.”

She pulls the silk tie from his neck, letting it drop to the ground beside their feet.

“There’s no shortage of family get-togethers with that lot,” she says, reaching for the top button of Rumple’s shirt. “They can wait.”

A split second pause and then Rumple’s hands are at the zipper on her skirt, tugging it down as she pushes his suit jacket off.

“We’ll have to be as quick and quiet as possible,” he whispers.

“Oh Rumple, you sure know how to charm a girl.”

“Welcome to parenthood,” he says with a grin. 

When they arrived at Granny’s a full half hour after the start of dinner, no one even noticed Rumple’s misbuttoned shirt or Belle’s messy hair, or if they did they were good enough not to mention it. Their family was just happy they came at all.

They even waited to serve the lasagna. 


End file.
